Does a hard-line vegan have the same right to dietary accommodation as an Orthodox Jew?

Colin Perkel/ The Canadian Press

It’s a question the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal may soon tackle after an update to the provincial definition of “creed”. Animal-rights and vegan advocates are calling the new policy, released in December, an important recognition of their right to express their beliefs. The 179-page policy, the first update from the provincial human rights commission since 1996, offers guidelines for what defines “creed,” historically treated as religious beliefs and practices, in the more secular 21st century. That opens the door for vegans, atheists and other groups to claim similar protections under the law.

“This is nothing new. For decades we’ve accommodated people who have beliefs about wearing leather or eating certain foods based on their religious beliefs,” said Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice. In a blog post last month, the charity said the new policy offers human rights protections to ethical vegans (people who don’t consume or wear any animal or fish byproducts for reasons of conscience). “This is a recognition that we are becoming an increasingly secular society and people have other reasons behind their beliefs now that aren’t necessarily religious in nature.”

What we were really trying to capture are things like atheism, belief systems that might not have a religious basis

But according to Ontario Human Rights Chief Commissioner Renu Mandhane, that was never the precise intent of the review of the definition of “creed.”

“We did hear from (vegan and animal rights groups) and I have a lot of respect for their advocacy… but in framing the definition, that is not the group that we were attempting to address. That’s not to say the tribunal might not find… in a certain instance for that to qualify as creed,” said Mandhane. “But that wasn’t where we were going.”

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Instead, the aim was to provide an update that hedged against growing religious persecution in some areas, particularly against Muslims, and to make it more inclusive of, for example, atheists or those who practice an indigenous spirituality. “Creed” is now much broader than the more strictly religious interpretation intended when the Code was first drafted and is intended to capture more modern belief systems.

That doesn’t mean any belief system can qualify, however. The updated policy uses a five-pronged approach to determining whether a belief system qualifies as a legally protected creed:

Is it a sincerely, freely and deeply held belief?

Is tied to personal identity and spiritual fulfillment?

Is it “a comprehensive and overarching system of belief that governs one’s conduct and practices?

Does it address ultimate question of human existence, including ones about life, death and purpose?

Is there an organization or community that practices the same belief system?

“What we were really trying to capture are things like atheism, belief systems that might not have a religious basis but are sort of about that ultimate question of our existence and our identity,” Mandhane said, since “we’ve become a more secular society.”

And for many vegans, the lifestyle is more than dietary or political, but a core belief.

Ethical veganism is a worldview that permeates everything a person does

“Ethical veganism is a worldview that permeates everything a person does” Labchuk said.

Many vegans buy cosmetics or clothing in line with their beliefs, or work to promote animal rights.

Some may worry the broad policy on creed could allow fringe beliefs, such as those who believe wind turbines are deadly or vaccinations cause autism, to be shielded as a sincerely held belief . But human rights complaints aren’t that reductive. They consider competing rights, what’s reasonable accommodation and apply complicated legal tests, like the five-point outline of a“creed.”

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“I have grave doubts that the human rights tribunal would entertain very narrow viewpoints like that,” Labchuk said.

“I think there are differences between preferences and belief systems,” said Peter Sankoff, a law professor at the University of Alberta who specializes in animal rights law and a vegan. He said the policy offers and important symbolism that ethical vegans can’t be discriminated against based on their beliefs, and for many vegans, himself included, it’s about much more than not eating meat and fish or wearing animal byproducts.

Mandhane said the definition of creed is “really talking about something that isn’t just a political belief or practice, it’s something more than that.”

Gavin Young / Calgary Herald

The debate over how far that can and should extend, both legal and societal, isn’t just about vegans or the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

“There is an active debate in law and in scholarship about what may or may not distinguish religion from other kinds of conscientiously held beliefs as protected by the Canadian Charter,” said Benjamin Berger, an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.

“One of the difficulties that we have in this area… is it’s trying to use legal terms to capture experience and life ,which is so much more complicated and fuzzier than those concepts allow for,” Berger said.“Is a deeply held political belief different in character than religion?”

Is a deeply held belief like ethical veganism different in character than religion?

“Is a deeply held belief like ethical veganism different in character than religion?” Berger said. “The debate is a deep one.”

“For many, the claim will be made that there is something special about religion and religious beliefs that make it a touchstone in a certain way, either historically special or experientially special.”

“But there are many who contest that. Who say it’s a category that we can generalize from,” Berger said — that the same notions of accommodation on religious grounds can and should be extended to other deeply held belief systems under the Charter protection for freedom conscience.

But how far, and to what extent, is something with which tribunals and courts across the country have long struggled. In 2002, a federal inmate won the right to a vegetarian diet from a Charter challenge based on his conscientiously held beliefs.

So there’s precedent in the courts, but Sankoff said the Commission’s work is important because Charter challenges are costly and long, while human rights tribunals are often more accessible. So they will be the first to answer whether a vegan has a right to request not to handle meat or be exempt from wearing leather boots as part of a uniform — the kind of reasonable accommodation so often granted on religious grounds.

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